Sunday, January 24 - Cavaliers at Celtics
Pregame – Stevens Impressed with Rising Cavs
Following the departure of LeBron James in the summer of 2018, the Cleveland Cavaliers hit rock-bottom – two consecutive 19-win seasons, and two straight bottom-two finishes in the Eastern Conference.
But that is not the same Cleveland club that Boston will be facing Sunday night at TD Garden.
This season’s version of the Cavaliers is far more fearsome. It’s got a deep roster, spearheaded by third-year guard Collin Sexton, who is averaging 26.8 points per game while shooting 46.8 percent from 3-point range.
They have also risen from the worst defense in the league last season to the best defense in the East this season, boasting a 116.0 defensive rating. Only the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers have been better defensively.
Brad Stevens forewarned ahead of Sunday’s tip-off that there is “a lot of talent right now on this (Cavaliers) team. I think obviously Collin has been the guy that’s showed himself capable for a long time and then has really become consistent here over the last, not only this year, but also you go back to last year. They’re deep.”
Cleveland got even deeper a week and a half ago when it acquired Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince from Brooklyn as a part of the James Harden mega-trade.
Since their arrival of those two, Cleveland has gone 3-0, including back-to-back wins over the Nets and their new Big Three of Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Now, it sits in 6th place in the East with an 8-7 record, just half a game behind the Celtics.
“The trade, in a lot of ways, fortified a roster that was already getting a lot out of a lot of guys,” Stevens said. “Now adding two more starter-level players in Prince and Allen. They’ve got a lot of good players. They’ve got a really good coach (in J.B. Bickerstaff). They’ve got a lot of good things going.”
In other words, tonight won’t be like facing off against the Cavs of the last two seasons. This new-look Cleveland team is proving to be an early dark horse in the Eastern Conference, so the Celtics will have to come galloping out of the gates if they hope to have a chance to cool them off tonight.
- Taylor Snow